With more than 75 percent of Downtown stakeholders supporting and City Council voting 7-0 in favor (Vice Mayor Garcia and Councilmember Schipskie recused themselves), Downtown’s Property Based Improvement District was reauthorized for another ten years on Tuesday night.
The PBID assesses residential rates on Downtown properties in order to fund improvements and services in addition to those provided by the City of Long Beach. Since 1998, the PBID has brought crucial services such as grafitti removal, sidewalk power washing, special events and the ever-present red-shirt wearing Safety Guides and Clean Team members who patrol the busy streets of Downtown for most of the day.
In a mail-in vote based on assessment amount, 77.7 percent of those who would have to contribute to the fund voted to reestablish Downtown’s PBID for another ten-year term. Following the ballot tabulation, the results were reported to the Council who ratified the vote.
The PBID’s last ten-year term—which was authorized during a similar process in 2003—would have ended next year, ceasing the nearly two million dollars in additional area enhancements provided by the District.